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The American Heart Association recommends that everyone should get at least 20 minutes of vigorous cardio exercise three times a week or 30 minutes of moderate cardio five times a week. (If you’re over 35 or have high blood pressure or a history of heart disease, you should check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.) Each cardio exercise session should be preceded by 5 to 10 minutes of warming up by moving just enough to gradually increase your heart rate and raise body temperature. After the 20 minutes of cardio, you should spend another 5 to 10 minutes gradually slowing down, or cooling off.

In the cardio zone, the goal is to maintain your heart rate at a fairly high level during the 20 minutes. A rough guide to this target heart rate is to subtract your age from 220, and then multiply by .70. For example, a 40-year-old man would aim for a heart rate of (220-40) x .70 = 126. Check with your doctor about using this formula if you are on any medications, as some may change the way your heart responds to exercise.

Cardio Exercises: The Difference Between Aerobic and Anaerobic

Once you’re ready to step up your workout, burn additional calories, and become more fit, fitness experts like Nicki Anderson, a personal trainer in Naperville, Ill., and the IDEA Health and Fitness Association's Trainer of the Year for 2008-2009, recommend a mix of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Both involve working the large muscle groups of the body, but they accomplish different fitness goals:

Aerobic exercise is cardio exercise in which the the intensity of the activity is low enough to maintain adequate oxygen for the blood, cells, and muscles. That oxygen supply makes it easier for muscles to burn fat as an energy source. Running, bicycling, hiking, skiing, and swimming are all examples of aerobic exercise.

Anaerobic exercise means pushing yourself to the point where your oxygen needs exceed the amount of oxygen you're taking in. The body is forced to use glucose for energy and produces lactic acid. Anaerobic exercise is very intense and of short duration. The best-known anaerobic exercise is weightlifting, or strength training; certain high-intensity activities like basketball, sprinting, and racquetball are also considered anaerobic. By building muscle with anaerobic exercise, you will enable your body to accomplish more when you work out aerobically. If you’ve only been doing aerobic exercise, consider adding weightlifting two or three times a week to target specific muscle groups.

Cardio Exercises: How to Burn Calories Faster

The way to burn calories faster is to challenge yourself during cardio exercises and push yourself beyond your current limits:

Try interval training. No matter what cardio exercises you do, push yourself hard for one minute out of every three or four minutes you're moving, Anderson says. This system, known as interval training, will give your body the mix of aerobic and anaerobic exercise it needs to burn calories and fat and build muscle mass.

Train longer. Being in the cardio zone for 20 minutes is fine when you’re new to aerobics, but as you develop stamina, you need to extend your workout to 45 or even 60 minutes per session (including the warm-up and cool-down) to really burn calories and attack your flab.

Increase intensity. In her own workout routine, Anderson will sometimes increase the incline on her treadmill 1 percent for every minute she's on for the first 15 minutes. She ends up struggling against a steep 15 percent grade. "That really kicks my butt, but it's a great workout," she says. "Just play around like that, to get yourself out of your comfort zone." Other ways to challenge yourself include picking up your pace or increasing the resistance on an elliptical or exercise bike.

Don’t go solo. Nothing beats being in an exercise class or working one-on-one with a trainer for the best cardio workout around, Anderson says. Both options will give you the chance to really dig deep.

"A trainer or instructor will take you beyond what you feel is comfortable, and challenge you more," Anderson says. "And in a class, when you've got the music and you've got the activity and you've got an instructor telling you to move it, move it, move it, and the energy of the class, you can easily move out of your comfort zone." Just one cautionary note: “Make sure the class is appropriate to your fitness level," Anderson advises.

The best part about working with a trainer or as part of a class is always having another voice to keep you motivated and on track.

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